Could You Forgive the Man Who Shot You in The Face?

In the days after 9/11, a Dallas man named Mark Stroman went on a revenge killing spree. Rais Bhuiyan survived and, a decade later, tried to stop Stroman’s execution.

Rais Bhuiyan is blind in one eye. His left eye is strong, intense, with perfect vision. It will follow you through a conversation, registering even a subtle change in posture or facial expression. But his right eye, even after years of surgeries, will never be more than a sluggish ornament that he wears for the sake of symmetry. It’s a symbol of what was taken from him—of what he was left with. The eye sits off to the side a bit, picking up only shades of light. He has no depth perception or peripheral vision, making it difficult to walk across unfamiliar territory without bumping into things or to play soccer without embarrassing himself. He has had to train his mind to look through only his good eye. Now, though, he says he sees things he’s never seen before.